The Cheerleader And The Psychopath
by Cybercitizen
Summary: After the mission to Pragia, Miranda goes down to Jack's little hidey-hole on the Engineering deck, wanting to see how she's holding up. While Jack is her usual antagonistic self, in the end, the two find a certain kindred spirit with each other. (Jackanda, Fluff, Canon)


The sound of the Normandy's Engine Core was usually a comforting sound to Jack. From her little hovel beneath the engineering bay, it was one of the few things that made her comfortable on the ship. She could have gotten quarters like the rest of the crew, but she knew she wasn't good with people.

As she lay on her bed, or at least, what she considered a bed, she relaxed, thinking of the memories she had just put behind her. She had recently been with Commander Shepard and her crew to a Cerberus Base on the planet Pragia, where Jack had been raised as a child.

She'd been tortured, experimented on along with a dozen other kids. The organisation had been trying to turn her into a super-biotic, a living weapon to use on their enemies. But Jack had proved too much for them and she had eventually escaped.

Now the place from her nightmares was gone for good, and she could sleep easier now at night. With the base destroyed, she would have no problems going on Shepard's little suicide mission. At least that was better than rotting in an alien prison cell.

And yet, she still felt a little iffy about being on the ship. She hardly liked any of the other crew members, except for Shepard and that bounty hunter, Zaeed. She at least respected him on the fact that they both liked killing people.

But of all the people Jack hated the most on the Normandy, it was the Commander's second-in-command, Miranda. The "Cerberus Cheerleader" as Jack called her represented everything she hated in people. Stuck up, bitchy, and the fact she was flying the flag of the people who hurt her at all times. Of all the people on the Normandy she wanted to kill, Miranda was at the top of Jack's list.

Just as Jack was about to fall asleep, she heard the sound of the door open on the level above her and footsteps heading down towards her. Jack sighed, wondering if it was Shepard coming for one of their little chats. But the footsteps were different.

They weren't the big bulky boots Shepard tended to wear with her uniform, rather the slender pumps of someone the tattooed woman was all too familiar with. Sitting up on her bed, Jack narrowed her eyes as the familiar form of Miranda appeared on the stairwell.

Leaning against the nearby wall, Miranda folded her arms and brushed her long black hair out of her eyes. Her outfit, her usual skin-tight, black and white catsuit, just screamed whore to Jack. She scowled, glaring at her rival with aggression.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," Miranda remarked, in a slightly cold tone, almost sarcastic tone.

"No, you're not," Jack replied to the Australian woman. "Come to admit you're the better woman at last, Cheerleader?"

"Dream on," Miranda stated. "I just came to check up on you, see how you were doing?"

"Isn't that Shepard's job? She's the people person," Jack told her.

"The Commander is busy making a report to the Illusive Man about your little trip to Pragia," responded the other woman. "I just wanted to make sure everything was fine with you, mentally and physically. It must have been taxing for you."

"You have no fucking clue, bitch," Jack scoffed. "If you want an answer, yeah, I was feeling great, until you showed your skin-tight ass down here."

Jack smirked, knowing she had the upper hand on Miranda in this argument. Miranda had her head shoved so far up her own behind she wouldn't understand how Jack had felt in that facility, how the organisation she'd pledged loyalty too had treated her.

Miranda sighed, turning away. "Look... I don't want to pretend to understand you, Jack. Hell, I don't even want to be around you, but I just wanted to say... you were brave and should be proud of doing what you did."

That statement made Jack do a double take. Did the Cerberus Cheerleader just... compliment her? Praise her? Okay, was this some weird clone of Miranda, because Jack knew for a fact the woman she knew would never act like that to her.

"Excuse me? Did I hit my head or something, because I swear you just complimented me!" Jack remarked. "You're a goddamn Cerberus whore, and you're saying I did good blowing up your organisation's own base?!"

"Yes," Miranda stated. "I know how it is... not having much of a childhood. My father cloned me from his own bloody DNA, raised me to be the perfect woman. Sure, I wasn't physically tortured like you, but I know what it's like wanting to bury the memories of your past."

"You're still advocating for Cerberus, Miranda," Jack stated. "How do I know you don't want to still try and turn me into some sort of super biotic?!"

"Because that isn't the Cerberus I signed up for," Miranda told her. "I didn't sign up for the experiments and the torture. I joined to try and make the galaxy a better place."

"Well, look around you, princess!" Jack remarked. "The galaxy's still a total shitstain and will probably be a shitstain by the time we both die."

"It doesn't have to be," Miranda offered. "Look at what we've done so far as a team. We've helped cure a plague on Omega, saved as many colonists as we could on Horizon. I say we're doing good a little bit, Jack. Of course, you couldn't see that."

Jack thought for a moment, pondering what Miranda had said. "Yeah... you're right in a way... did you just have a good point?"

"Maybe, I did," Miranda stated. "And one last thing... even if I hate your guts and would rather you still be locked in that cell on Purgatory, I still think you're a good choice for our team. If we make it through this... I'll try and make sure you get a better life than any of this."

"Would Cerberus even allow that?" Jack wondered. "We're all gonna be liabilities to them after all this."

"That probably won't matter... I've been having second thoughts lately about my devotion to the organisation, especially considering what I learned had happened to you." She sighed. "But I'm not sure of that yet. All I'll say is this... stay safe out there. You have a future, Jack."

For some strange reason, this brought a smile to Jack's face. In a way, it almost seemed like if she had died, her favourite rival was going to miss her. She looked at Miranda as the raven-haired Australian woman began to take her leave of her.

"Same to you, Cheerleader," Jack remarked. "If those bug-eyed freaks get you first, I'm going to be sorely disappointed. So keep your ass safe, because I'd rather it be mine when it's over. Oh, and I'm not playing nice here. I fully expect to be killing you once this is all over."

"And the sooner you're out of my sight, the better," Miranda stated, rolling her eyes with a small smile on her face. "I'll leave you be."

"Oh and Cheerleader!" Jack called back, before flipping the bird at Miranda.

Sighing, Miranda shook her head, heading up the stairwell towards the elevator. She hated Jack more than anything, but at least the hatred was mutual. Although, there was some sort of tension Miranda couldn't really explain.

And it was that tension, that was starting to fascinate her. Perhaps she and Jack were meant to be more than rivals after all.

xXx

**Author's note: **I figured I should give these two something to talk about with each other. After all, they both honestly have tragic pasts to them, so they'd probably get on a bit better. If they didn't already want to smear each other across the wall that is ;)

See ya next time!


End file.
